The SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) editor for Tabular models has been improved in the recent updates. For example, the Tabular Model Explorer enables you to quickly jump between the entities of your model organized in a hierarchical way. However, when it Read More...

Microsoft recently released the Service Pack 1 for SQL Server 2016. If you use Analysis Services, installing this update is a no-brainer and you should do that as soon as possible. The reason are all related to memory management. Microsoft officially Read More...

Last week, a new version of DAX Studio (2.5.0) has been released. You can find a summary of the new features in the blog post from Darren Gosbell - thanks Darren for your wonderful job with this tool! My small contribution to this tool is mainly in the Read More...

The summer is almost over and while we are working on new content (books and other for www.sqlbi.com ), I already have the plans for this Autumn’s conferences. Microsoft Ignite 2016 – September 26-30, Atlanta, GA See what’s new in SQL Server Analysis Read More...

With the release of Microsoft SQL Server 2016 , there are several options to use Analysis Services Tabular. SQL Server Standard : it includes Analysis Services Tabular, and it is available in two licensing models: Server + Client Access License (CAL) Read More...

If you are using Power BI Desktop or Power Pivot in Excel 2016, you should learn when and how you can use GROUPBY instead of SUMMARIZE. The SUMMARIZE function is very powerful and internally very complex, so it’s easy to find scenarios where you get unexpected Read More...

In a couple of weeks, I will move to Australia for 3 weeks, visiting Melbourne and Sydney for a number of events and training. This is the list of topics in public events you can attend (with link to registration pages – remember that SQL Saturday conferences Read More...

I have experienced (on difference customer’s databases) some performance issues related to security in SSAS Tabular models. The symptoms are that certain queries, pivot table, or reports, have good performance when you connect as a database administrator, Read More...

The 2015 has been an amazing year for Power BI. One year ago, I was commenting on this blog the public preview of Power BI dashboards. A few days ago, Microsoft released the December update of Power BI Desktop and several updates of the Power BI service. Read More...

I’m sitting at the bloggers table at the Day 1 keynote of PASS Summit 2015 and I try to recap the important news for the BI community. SQL Server Analysis Services 2016 CTP 3 will be available in a few days here , but Microsoft already announced the news Read More...

I don’t usually blog about news, unless there is a relevant impact on future directions. Last week we have seen a huge number of announcements for Power BI ( Custom Visuals now available to anyone through a gallery online, you can import them in also Read More...

If you use Analysis Services Tabular, you should dedicate a good amount of time in hardware selection. Unfortunately, throwing money in expensive hardware configuration could be a very bad idea, resulting in your 1,500$ desktop running faster than your Read More...

Last week we launched a new page in SQLBI website: DAX Puzzle (you can also use www.daxpuzzle.com ). The idea is very simple: we describe a scenario, we ask to solve a problem in that scenario and we might provide some hint to help you finding the solution. Read More...

I am so happy to announce that The Definitive Guide to DAX is finally available! I and Alberto Ferrari spent one year writing this book, and several years collecting the knowledge necessary to do that. The complete title is The Definitive Guide to DAX: Read More...

After many years of helping several companies around the world creating small and large data models using SQL Server Analysis Services Tabular, I’ve seen a common performance issue that is underestimated at design time. The VertiPaq engine in SSAS Tabular Read More...